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Sunday, August 18, 2013

Because Paradise was there for the taking

It was time to hand in the Nissan Sunny and return to hitchhiking up the hill. So for one final day myself and a lass at the hostel, Nathalie, headed off on a road trip to Paradise.

First Queenstown for a yummy pan au chocolat at Cafe Vudu (a delayed pleasure after missing out last year), then on around the lake to Glenorchy. Glenorchy is at the tip of Lake Wakitipu, the same lake that Queenstown sits besides, but Glenorchy is a quiet little town where not a lot seems to happen. There are jetboat tours up the Dart River, there's a nice pub and a great little cafe, but it's basically a sleepy little backwater an hour up the road from the adventure capital of NZ.

Further on from Glenorchy we turn on to the unsealed road to Paradise. You've got to love a road sign pointing towards Paradise!

I might mention, if you haven't yet figured it out from the pictures, that it wasn't exactly the best weather. It was cold and rainy, with low cloud and the occasional brilliant rainbow, and the Otago countryside is at its brownest at this time of year. Hard to build up enthusiasm that our destination would live up to its promise...

Through a glorious rainforest we ascended to Diamond Lake, and then finally arrived in Paradise. Yeah, right! Though it does have some rustic cabins to rent if you really want to get away from it all...

We took some pictures, which was really the whole point of the trip anyway! Then headed back to Queenstown to drop off the car and hitch back to Wanaka...

Have you ever gone on a trip just to take a photo that you've been there?

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Hazel

My best friend and constant companion for the last 15 and a half years. She's now sleeping on a bed of seaweed in a quiet spot in my garden. I'll miss my best friend and I'll never forget all those wonderful times together.